OCEANSIDE: OUSD to rehire at least half of laid off teachers

36 of 61 offered temporary jobs for next year

More than half of the Oceanside Unified School District teachers
who were laid off last month will be brought back for the coming
school year, district officials said this week.

The district has already rescinded layoff notices for 11 of the
61 teachers who received them in May. Officials plan to bring back
an additional 15 by the end of the month and another 10 by the
beginning of the school year for a total of 36 positions, said Luis
Ibarra, assistant superintendent in charge of human resources for
the district.

The move will allow the district to lower class sizes slightly
next year at most grade levels, Ibarra said.

However, it's not all good news for those teachers, said Terry
Hart, president of the Oceanside Teachers Association.

All have been rehired on one-year contracts, which can mean they
have less job security, he said.

"Rescinding of the layoffs is good news," Hart said, "but when
teachers have worked for the district for 10 years, it's
disappointing when they get offered temporary contracts."

Some of the teachers who were laid off had been working for the
district for as long as a decade.

District officials decided to bring the teachers back on annual
contracts because many of their peers are on temporary leave for a
variety of reasons and are guaranteed their job if they return,
Ibarra said.

Though they lose some security, the rehired employees will
continue making their previous salary and will continue to get
incremental raises based on experience and education, he said.

The district will gradually try to hire those teachers back on
permanent contract, at which time their seniority will be restored,
Ibarra said.

With the plans to rehire the 36 educators, 25 permanent teachers
remain on the district's layoff list. There were also 82 teachers
hired on annual contracts that lost their jobs when the school year
ended earlier this month.

Those numbers are far lower when compared with the 118 permanent
teachers who received layoff warnings in March. By May, district
officials were able to cut that number nearly in half because of
retirements.

They've been able to bring back the rest of the teachers mostly
because of concessions from their peers, who agreed recently to
lose six working days and the corresponding pay next year.

Even more could be brought back depending on how many students
show up for class when the school year starts in August, Ibarra
said.

"As we see the whites of the kids' eyes, we want to see how big
the classes are," he said. "If enrollment spikes, we'll definitely
bring back more."

The layoffs are part of the district's plan to close an
estimated budget shortfall of more than $19 million next year,
caused primarily by spending cuts at the state level.

District officials expect to bring in roughly $150 million next
year, down from $161 million this year and $177 million in the
2008-09 fiscal year.

In addition to the layoffs, district officials plan next year to
shorten the school year by a week, cut back on training, eliminate
most busing and end most summer school programs.